Attachment for paint cans or the like



March 26, 1957 J. F. GIUSTO 2,786,514

ATTACHMENT FOR PAINT CANS OR THE LIKE Filed Aug. 26, 1954 min FII5 1 INVENTOR. JOSEPH 7. G/usro FIE-S HTZORNEY United States Patent insesi i ATTACHMENT FOR PAlNT tiANs oii m: LIKE .losepll F. Giusto, Oakland, Calif. Application August 26, 1954, Serial No. 452,303 Claims. 01. 222-570 The invention relates to a unitary top attachment for open containers for liquids, such as paints.

An object of the invention is to provide an attachment for an open top container of a liquid with a self-contained means providing for its sealed fitting upon the container to prevent a spilling or splashing of the liquid upon the container top during its transportation or during a removal of its contents by means of a brush or other liquidapplying tool.

Another object is to provide a unit having a pouring spout which provides for a clean pouring of liquid from a container which mounts it.

A further object is to provide a unit of the character described having a particularly effective meansfo'r effecting a return scraping of liquid from a brush used in applying it.

An added object is to provide a structure for 'a unit of the character described which may be made of a readily cleanable material, as a plastic or the like.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will beset forth or be apparent in the following description of a typical embodiment thereof, and in the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a container, such as a paint can, mounting an attachment embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the container and mounted attachment.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the attachment with the associated container indicated by broken lines.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View of the mounted attachment taken from the 'line 4-4 of Figure 2.v I V A Figure 5 is a fragmentary side elevation similar to that of Figure 1 but on a reduced scale, end showing the container and attachment assembly in tilted position for pouring a liquid from the container; A i

As illustrated, a present attachment 9 comprises a unit mounted on a container 10 comprising a well known form of can or bucket used to hold more or less viscous liquids such as paint, varnish, oil and other liquids, and has a cylindrical side wall 11 closed at one end by a bottom (not illustrated) and having at its other end a circular opening 12 concentric with and of less diameter than the cylinder of the side wall and bounded by an annular inturned rim structure 13 secured around its outer edge to the top end of the side wall 11 by a usual beaded-over formation 14 clinched and/ or soldered to the side wall. Intermediately of its width, the rim 13 provides an upwardly-opening annular groove 15 defined in a downwardly offset annular rim portion 16, and an inner beaded edge 17 thereof defines the opening 12. The rim 13 is arranged to sealedly and removably mount a usual container cover (not shown) by having a complementary under face oflset thereof wedgedly forced into the upwardly-facing groove 15 to close and seal the opening 12 of the annular rim structure 13 of the container, this Patented Mar. 26, 1957 cover being removed when the contents of the container are to be used.

It will now be noted that the present attachment 9 is arranged for its removably retained and sealed fitting upon the top of a container 10, and comprises a body providing a tubular wall 19 having a continuous external flange 20 extending therearound intermediate its length, with the end planes of the body mutually parallel and perpendicular of the axis of the wall. The outer face 21 of the part 22 of the portion 19 below the flange 20 is conically tapered downwardly with the diameter at its top slightly exceeding the diameter of the opening 12 defined within the rim edge 17, whereby the attachment may be wedgedly and frictionally mounted on the container top by forcing the part 22 through the opening 12. An annular flange or skirt 23 depends downwardly from the outer. part of the flange 20, and is cooperative with the face 21 of the part 22 to define an inverted groove 24 which receives the bead 17 to the degree permitted by' the wedged insertion of the unit part 22, while the flange 23 extends into the rim groove 15 for more or less sealing it off at its inner edge; it will be understood that the simultaneous engagement of the rim edge 17 in the groove 24, and the disposal of the attachment flange 23 in the rim groove 15 cooperateto fix and axially center the attachment 9 upon the rim 13 of the can top.

An open-topped spout 26 extends radially from a gap 27 provided in the portion 28 of the wall 19 above the flange 20. As particularly shown, the spout 26 is defined by upright sides 29 integrally connected by a bottom 30 which slopes upwardly and outwardly above the top plane of the flange 20 to provide for a gravity return flow of any liquid from the spout when the container is upright. The

top edges 29of the spout sides 29 extend in the top plane of the part 28, and the outer end edges 29" of the spout sides 29 are coplanar with the outer end edge 30' of the spout bottom 30 in a plane which is generally perpendicular to the spout bottom. The unit mounting and spout are generally such that an appropriate tilting of the container having a liquid therein may provide a pouring discharge of a fully directed stream of the liquid through and from the spout without leakage of the liquid onto the can top portion provided by the rim :13.

Means are provided for guiding the flow of liquid from the tilted container into the channel of the spout 26, said means being integral with the unit 9; as particularly illustrated, a plate member 32 of segmental outline is fixed within the bore of the wall '11 to extend inwardly from the top of the spout inlet gap 27, with the member sloping downwardly from said gap in more-or-less parallel relation to thesp'out bottom 30. The innerand straight edge portion 33ofthe member 32 is arcuately beveled at its underside to provide a curved upper approach portion of its under face which defines the top of the pouring throat in the gap 27 at the inner end of the spout 26.

In addition to the flow-guiding function of the under side of the member 32 during the pouring of liquid from a container which mounts a present unit 9, the sharpened inner edge of said member is arranged for its use as a scraping edge for removing excessive liquid from a brush (not shown) which is in use to apply liquid received from the container by dipping the brush bristles therein; this scraper use of the member 32 is of particular value for regulating the charge of liquid on a brush before its application, and for cleaning a brush when its use is completed. Also, the member 32 is arranged to serve as a rest for a wet or cleaned brush by supporting the bristle end of the brush while its handle portion rests on the unit top at the opposite side thereof from the spout.

It is to be note-d that the design of the present unitary attachment 9 for use with liquid containers of the type described adapts it for its production by its moi-ding of a plastic or other suitable material which may be readily cleaned of any liquid coating accumulating thereon; in the case of paints and oils, a paint thinner may be used to dissolve any coating from the unit. It will also be noted that the features of the present units 9 may be incorporated in similar units of different size, and for units designed for their removable mounting on container tops of different structure from that shown in the present embodiment of the invention.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the present unitary can attachment will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains. While I have described a unit having its parts providing a preferred embodiment of my invention, I desire to have it understood that the showings are primarily illustrative, and that such changes and developments may be made, when desired, as fall within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. For a container having a circular top opening, a unitary pouring spout attachment providing a tubular .wall having a bore of uniform circular cross-section arranged for its upright insertion through said opening to depend therebelow and having a lower portion of its outer surface tapered downwardly from a location intermediate the length thereof and adapted to wedgedly engage the end opening of an associated container for sealedly centering the attachment in the container opening and having therein a side opening extending from a location intermediate the length thereof to the top end, and a pouring spout joined at one end to said tubular wall at said side opening and projecting outwardly from said wall.

2. A unitary pouring attachment for a container having a top end opening, comprising an annular wall having open upper and lower ends, a flange surrounding said annular wall between the ends thereof, said annular wall having an external surface portion tapered from said flange to the lower of said ends and adapted to wedgedly and frictionally engage in the end opening of an associated container and having a side opening extending from said flange toward the upper of said ends, a pouring spout joined at one end to said annular wall in registration with the opening in said wall and projecting outwardly from said annular wall, and a flat pouring guide member of segmental outline extending across the portion of the interior of said annular wall adjacent said opening and adjacent of said other wall end and spaced above the bottom line of the spout having an outer curved edge having its ends integrally joined to said annular wall solely at opposite sides of said opening substantially at its top and a beveled inner edge extending chordwise of the interior of said annular wall.

3. A unitary pouring attachment for mounting on a container having an end opening, comprising an annular wall having open ends in mutually parallel planes, a flange integrally and intermediately surrounding said annular wall between the ends thereof, said annular wall having an external surface portion below the flange tapered from said flange to its lower end and adapted to wedge into the top end opening of an associated container for securing the attachment thereto and having a side opening extending upwardly from said flange to the upper end of the wall, and a pouring spout of rectangular trough form joined at one end to said annular wall in registration with said opening and projecting radially outwardly from said annular wall, said pouring spout having a flat bottom wall inclined upwardly from said flange and toward the plane of said other end of the annular wall and having side walls extending one along each side edge of said bottom wall and from said flange to the plane of said other end of the annular wall.

4. A unitary attachment for a container having an end opening, comprising an annular wall having a portion of its 'outer surface tapered downwardly from a location intermediate the length thereof to the lower end thereof and adapted to sealedly wedge into a container end opening and having therein a side opening extending from a location intermediate the length thereof to the upper wall end, a pouring spout joined at one end to said annular wall in registration with said opening and projecting obliquely outwardly upwardly from said annular Wall, and an imperforate segment-shaped pouring-guide plate member extending across the portion of the interior of said annular wall adjacent said opening inwardly of said other end and having the ends of its arcuate edge joined to said annular wall at the opposite sides of said opening and its straight edge extending chordwise of the interior of said annular wall fully across the space of the wall thereat.

5. A pouring attachment for a container having a top opening, comprising a tubular wall having a lower portion thereof adapted to wedgedly and sealedly engage the top opening of said container and having therein a side opening above the top of the container, a pouring spout extending obliquely outwardly and upwardly from said wall in fixed registration with said opening, and an imperforate segmental pouring-guide plate member extending across the portion of the passage of said wall adjacent the top of the wall in general parallelism with the bottom line of the spout and having its arcuate edge fixed to said tubular wall at the opposite sides of said opening and its inner edge extending chordwise of the interior of said tubular wall and sharpened for use as a brush-scraping edge, said member sloping generally as the trough bottom and being arranged to support the bristle end of a wet paint brush while the handle of the brush rests on the top of the wall at a point thereof opposite the spout.

Murray Mar. 20, 1951 Jorgensen Aug. 21, 1951 

